Discussion

In some respects, the weather pattern shaping up for next week looks more “winter like” than anything we saw during the entire winter season. For example, an index called the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) that measures anomalies in pressure differences in the North Atlantic will actually reach its most negative point over the next few days compared to at any point during the winter. Snow lovers in the Northeast US love to see a negative NAO index value as that tends to suggest cold air intrusions from Canada will take place and the longer the NAO stays negative, the longer it stays cold.

What does all of this mean for next week? First, a weekend storm well off the east coast will be forced to loop back towards Maine and Nova Scotia by later Sunday as a blocking pattern develops in the upper atmosphere well to our north. This storm will then continue to rotate around into northern New England early next week and from this position, it will gradually push colder air into the Northeast US as a deep trough develops. One or two other storms may develop near the coast later next week after the colder air gets well established. It is certainly not out of the question that snow develops next week in parts of the Northeast US with the greatest likelihood in the interior, higher elevation locations. The bottom line – next week will be a far cry from the warm weather that we all enjoyed during much of the month of March. Stay tuned.